This paper investigates the relationship between the structural features of Chinese characters and the handwriting quality of Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) beginners. The study involved 22 CFL beginners transcribing characters using digital ink technology. Correlations were analyzed between structural features (including stroke count, stroke…

While previous research has documented the unique aspects of Chinese dyslexia as compared to dyslexia in alphabetic scripts, it remains unclear whether the difference in Chinese literacy experiences influences the manifestation of Chinese dyslexia. The present article first reviews the characteristics of Chinese languages and scripts, including…

The pedagogical and theoretical questions addressed in this study relate to the extent to which native Japanese readers with little or no knowledge of Chinese characters recognize Chinese characters that are viewed as abbreviations of the kanji they already know. Three graphic similarity functions (i.e., an orthographically acceptable similarity,…

Research on mechanistic thinking in organic chemistry has shown that students attribute little meaning to the electron-pushing (i.e., curved arrow) formalism. At the University of Ottawa, a new curriculum has been developed in which students are taught the electron-pushing formalism prior to instruction on specific reactions--this formalism is…

In several of his papers, Charles S. Peirce illustrates processes of interpreting and understanding signs by examples from second language vocabulary teaching and learning. The insights conveyed by means of these little pedagogical scenarios are not meant as contributions to the psychology of second language learning, but they aim at elucidating…

Learning the symbolic language of chemistry is a difficult task that can be frustrating for students. This article introduces a game, ChemOkey, that can help students learn the names and symbols of common ions and their compounds in a fun environment. ChemOkey, a game similar to Rummikub, is played with a set of 106 plastic or wooden tiles. The…

This article reports the findings of a study that investigated the role of graphic novels in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to International Baccalaureate students (aged 15-16) in TED Ankara College Foundation Private High School. Two intact 10th grade classes were randomly assigned to the control and experimental groups who studied…

James Moffett is revered by many for his contributions to English education, but his interest in discourse and rhetoric led him beyond reform in the language arts curriculum to a vision of a radically reconceived approach to education, one in which disciplinary knowledge is subordinate to the processes of symbolic representation that creates that…

Secondary student performance in the domain of reading has been a cause for concern for educators and scholars alike. To understand the demands placed on students we must first understand how reading changes within content areas and across grades. Furthermore, we must have an understanding of teachers' conceptions about the texts they teach. This…

Instructional strategies requiring transmediation, the process of translating meaning from one sign system (such as language) to another (such as pictures), are critical to enquiry-oriented classrooms because learners must invent a connection between the systems. This article, drawing on semiotic theory, explores how transmediation achieves its…

Article proposed a curriculum with its base in humanities education through the symbolic arts, a curriculum that allows for and encourages encounters with various levels of meaning. (Author/RK)

Discusses the development of a curriculum built around the ideas expressed in "The Last Whole Earth Catalog." (RB)

Introduces a teaching technique for composition in which learning occurs in an atmosphere of experimentation and imagination, in an atmosphere of the hypothetical, and in an atmosphere of discovery. (RB)

The employment of the graphoneme approach in reading instruction is based on several generally accepted concepts regarding the learning process and the nature of the English language. A graphoneme is a closed syllable, a syllable which begins with a vowel and ends with a consonant, and it is thought to be the stable unit in the relationship…

An elementary teacher investigates a way of telling a story using only pictures. In another article (EJ 527 113) this teacher and his students considered how our writing system uses letters to stand for sounds or groups of sounds, experimenting with Kiowa picture writing. (Author/RK)